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Hamline was unremitting with the competition at Wartburg. The Pipers looked as though they were a team competing for a national championship. Here’s what happen at the Central Regional Championships to lead to a third place finish. Jeff Metzdorff finished sixth overall.

The senior runner finished with a time of (25:46.5) to lead the Pipers. The Pipers had contributions from a lot of runners though. They had five runners in the top 26. Junior Tony Klappa finished 17th with a time of (26:11.00). Juniors Dan Steinbrecher came in 21st and Chris Yotter finished 25th with times of (26:23) and
(26:27.4) respectively. Yotter just barely edged out Sophomore Brandon Gleason for 25th place.
Gleason’s time was (26:29.8) and he finished 26th. The Pipers may have had an even more impressive finish at Wartburg if Junior Travis Bristow would have been healthy.

“I had a cold but am doing a lot better now,” said Bristow.

He did not run as well as expected at the Regional competition but will be relied upon at nationals. Bristow is a former MIAC player of the week and up until last week he felt “pretty good” about the season.

“I accomplished a lot of goals for my self. It makes me happy. I wanted to be in the top five and help the team but season isn’t over yet,” he said.

“We’re not done yet. It’s been a very good season so far. If they can continue to do what they’ve done all year, we have a shot to finish in the top ten,” said Schmaedeke after the regional meet.

This is the first time the Pipers have advanced as a team to the national meet since 2000. The team had some familiar MIAC competition at OWU, with the likes of St. John’s and Carleton also competing in the team competition.

And on Saturday, Nov 19, 2005, earned the right to be remembered. Hamline has had a lot of players step up this season and give solid, consistent contributions to the team’s success; it is a team, and a national championship needed every member to come up with big performances.

Senior Jeff Metzdorff, who came in 14th in the team race and 23rd overall, led Hamline with a finish of (26.14.9). Within the next minute, teammates Tony Klappa, (26.54.8), and Travis Bristow, (26.58.6), both
crossed the line. The entire team finished less than a minute and-a-half after Metzdorff, a feat that is not easily accomplished. Dan Steinbrecher finished in 73rd place with a time of (27.18.1), and was followed by Junior Chris Lutz, who stepped up the pace from his region finals performance to enter the top five runners for the Pipers, finished the race in 82nd place, at (27.29.3).

Sophomore Brandon Gleason and junior Chris Yotter were not in the top five, so their times were not scored, but they made important contributions to the team with their dedication and strong performances in the meet. Gleason finished in (27.32.8), while Yotter came in at (27.34.9).

“[Gleason and Yotter] got in front of some other people’s third and fourth man, and added points to our total. It’s a confidence factor, because they’ve tended to run in a group all year, and you get a lot of confidence from having your teammates around you,” said Schmaedeke.

This week OWU received both snow and rain, which then froze, then thawed, and turned the ground into slick mud. The weather compounded the problems the team faced on the already difficult course. One must also remember that the Pipers were up against the best teams in the nation, so there could be no slip-ups, no matter how many muddy hills the team was forced to climb. While the terrain did pose a threat, the biggest obstacle for the Pipers would be their own speed.

“What happens in a national meet often, is that because all these teams are good, so they all try to move to the front,” said Schmaedeke. “People can get out to the front too quickly, and they pay the price for that later.”

The Pipers resisted the temptation to take that early lead because they knew how much harder it would make the race for them at the end. Their patience paid off.

“If you would have scored the meet at the mile [split], we would have been at about 25th place,” said Schmaedeke. 25th is not where they would stay.

The mens team ran their own race at their own pace, enabling them to stay strong throughout the entire course and take seventh place. Anderson was able to hoof out the 10th place spot in the nation at (22.31.9), earning her All-American status. Metzdorff from the mens side also made the All-American team. “When you go to the national meet, you just hope your guys are ready to go. Really what you hope is that they run to the best of their ability that day, so they feel that they’ve done the best they could. They definitely felt that way,” said Schmaedeke.

“They got done what they needed to get done.”